


Koji and the Dragon

by todorokiisasadbean



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, Unspecified Setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-17 02:55:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20613791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/todorokiisasadbean/pseuds/todorokiisasadbean
Summary: In the Heian Time Period there was a small village that sat at the base of the mountains, surrounded by woods. The people living there were hardworking and prosperous. In that particular village a 7-year-old named Koji resided. This is his story.





	Koji and the Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: The dragon is about the size and color of Elliot from Pete’s Dragon, but it looks much tougher than him.

As you know the village is surrounded by woods, but it wasn’t an ordinary ecosystem.The wood is the home of a nature spirit, that has protected the village since it was founded. Through it is a worn-down path that leads to the neighboring village, and past that is monster territory, home to dragons, oni, lost spirits and such. The people never went through there at night, however, since the nature spirit sleeps at that time and the dark creatures awaken. In the mountains live a few bandits and a pack of wolf demons.

The leader of the wolf demons organized a manslaughter on the day of Koji’s fifth birthday. They came from below and above in a full blown ambush, slaughtering the majority of the village’s population. Of the majority killed Koji’s parents were the first. The kind married couple of healers went out to collect herbs for their supply, for they had run dry recently. At that time Koji was a curious thing, following things he didn’t understand. Strolling away from his parents was his saviour. And his downfall.

While his parents picked ferns and plants for remedies he followed the call of a butterfly’s wings, crawling through dugout crevices and stepping over fallen branches. He hadn’t gotten that far when a howl pierced the air. Koji tripped over a rock and fell, letting the butterfly get away. The padding of wolves’ feet echoed through the woods and the young boy froze, too terrified to move. 

He heard growls and barks. Then screaming. It was his mother’s voice. Adrenaline jump started the boy as he ran towards the origins of the screams, fearing the worst. ‘What’s going on? Where’s mommy? Daddy? Where are you? I’m scared!’ Those were the words that ran through Koji’s head while he raced to the main path. Breathing panicked and body banged up from thorny branches and rocks, the boy called for his parents one last time only to find them dead and bloody, herb sacks spilling plants onto the floor.

Koji’s blood ran cold. Near his parents’ corpses wolves were licking blood off their paws, the iron-filled substance splattering their coats. The young child glued himself to the ground, breath catching and heart thumping. He paled, slowly looking st the gaping hole in his parents’ back, then at the bloody canines.   
“Mo...mmy?” Koji’s voice was meek, barely audible. ‘What’s going on? Why is mommy and daddy on the floor? Wake up, mommy! Daddy!’ The wolf demons picked up on his scent. A big gray wolf with gleaming sharp teeth turned to him, bloodlust evident in his eyes.

“Aah...Aah…” Koji’s legs trembled. “AAAHH!” The child made a mad dash towards the village, the mongrels following after. He sprinted down the path with wolves on his tail, yelling desperate pleas in an attempt to notify the villagers. But none would leave their huts, for they would rather have the child die than risk their lives, the cowardly bunch.

When arriving at the village’s entrance, the wolves found themselves a much more appealing meal than a scrawny five-year-old. They infiltrated the village, breaking and entering into the wooden abodes and mutilating the people until their bodies couldn’t be recognized by the mere eye. Pandemonium swept through like a plague, leaving no more than a handful of people alive. Koji watched the slaughter from his hut, the scene forever leaving an affliction upon his heart.

As the raid abated and the wolves were summoned back into the mountains the remaining visitors muttered to themselves about the devastating state of the place and how to fix it. Koji emerged from the protection of his hut cautiously, feet shuffling towards the group. Sanome, a friend of Koji’s parents, perceived the boy’s presence and pointed to the five-year-old angrily.

“You!” Koji flinched. “You are the reason we are all in this mess!” the man thundered. “If you hadn’t gone and attracted all the wolves this would have never happened! I knew the very first moment I saw you that you are bad luck, and I was right! This!” he cried, facing the audience, “ is a cursed child! He will damn us all if we allow him to live with us any longer!” Shouts of agreement welcomed this idea, and Koji was pelted with farming tools and rocks, his small body running away from the madness. That was the first time he ever cried. And perhaps his last.

After that day the boy never cried or spoke, living under the small ledge the village stood upon. He rarely went to the village, only to get clothes and occasionally getting medicine for wounds. He was 7 now, and the child has learned how to survive on his own, spending the days in the woods playing with the spirits. One day Koji tried to steal fish from the winter provisions bank at dawn and was caught.

“Koji!” Said boy ignored the call, hands grappling at a cod uselessly. Two villagers roughly pulled him out of the creek, exactly at the moment when he caught a fish. In surprise he let the fish go, and struggled to get away from the people who treated him like an abomination. “You stole from the creek again! When are you going to learn!” Sanome and the other villagers held him while the boy was beaten, then set him free. “Get out of this village! We don’t need you!” Koji wordlessly walked away, the villagers whispering amongst themselves skittishly.  
“That kid never speaks or cries. He’s creeping me out,” said one.  
“Yeah, he’s always out in the woods. I feel kinda bad for him, actually,” said another.  
“Why?”  
“His parents were killed in the slaughter. After Sanome convinced the entire village that he was cursed the mistrust is to be natural..”  
“Poor guy.”  
Koji tottered towards his little sacred place in the woods, a treehouse grown for him by the tree spirit itself. Inside had all types of spices and herbs from the outside, as well as a stone for a table and some provisions from the hunt he went on last night. Packing provisions and some clothes, the child placed all of it inside a blanket, in which he folded onto a stick. Koji was tired of being told to leave, so it was about time he did. Following the path to the neighboring village, he set off on his journey.

At noon the villagers had a discussion and agreed that it was long enough that they had to hold a grudge on the healers’ boy. Going to his hut they found that it was abandoned, with a note that said ‘Bye.’ In a panic the villagers tried to figure out where Koji was going, and why he left. They never really hated him, it was just a spur of the moment.  
“What should we do?”  
“Where did he go?”  
“Is it because we told him to leave this morning?”  
“What if he gets lost?”  
“Enough!” Sanome shouted, silencing the people from their flurry of panic. He sighed. “This is all my fault. I told him to leave because he was stealing again. I should have put my grudge away a long time ago. We leave at dawn. Once we find him we shall apologize and allow him to live with us. It has been too long. His mother would have been very disappointed at me.” Everyone agreed and went back, preparing for the mission ahead.  
At the same moment Koji was past the neighboring village and into monster territory, asking the aid of harmless spirits to guide him. When night fell he took shelter in the den of a gracious bear demon, weariness catching up with him and putting him in a dreamless slumber. That’s how the days went for the young boy, wake up, ask for guidance of spirits and demons, eat provisions sparingly, then sleep. A week into his journey Koji was attacked by a ginormous praying mantis, his belongings left behind in the rush. As he was escaping the praying mantis tore up the woodland around them, plants and animals running from the katana-sharp spikes on the bug’s shearlike arms.

Just as the praying mantis was about to snatch him up, a load roar resonated the valley. The attacks ceased almost immediately, and Koji was left staring at open air. ‘What was that?’ Shrugging off the feeling of unease the boy picked himself up and continued his walk, making his way to the thicker parts of trees. ‘Is this what they call a forest?’ he wondered in awe, smiling for the first time in years. Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, the child’s stomach rumbled, reminding him that he had left his provisions far from here. ‘Hungry...Need to find food…’ Wincing at the glare of sunlight peeking through the branches, Koji stumbled along until he saw a dragon before going unconscious.

When the fog lifted in his brain, the boy awoke to be in a bed inside a cave, which could have been a very advanced house. Gears clicked and straw was laid all over the floor, with cabinets and a fresh pair of clothes hung on the wall. The bed was finely made, with sheepskin blankets and feather-stuffed pillows resting on an intricately carved bedpost. The boy marveled at the finery of the bed before putting on the clothes and exiting the room, his guard up and fists clenched.

Entering another room that was even bigger than the first, Koji found himself face to face with a kaleidoscope of mosaic tiles and a dragon, about 30 feet long, golden eyes staring nonchalantly at the child. A moment passed, then two, the boy and dragon scrutinizing each other until one of them spoke.

Eragon stared at the scrawny brunette he found on nature’s floor, finding it odd that the human would just assess him so, so he did the same. He noticed that the boy must be between 5-10 years of age, was very skinny and unkempt but had the eyes of a cornered animal. ‘Why is he glaring at me like that? He doesn’t appear to be attacking, so he’s analyzing me? To escape? If he shall observe me I shall observe him. ...He’s very tiny, shouldn’t humans be a bit taller? He’s got his skeletal structure poking through his skin, too. Brown eyes… The wolf demon pack leader has brown eyes. Does that mean he came from the mountains? That’s a long way off. But don’t most humans have either brown or blue eyes? This isn’t getting me anywhere…’   
“What is your name?” Eragon boomed, sounding impudent and snobbish. The boy flinched, crossed his arms, then answered with as much sass as he could muster.  
“Koji.” ‘A crass one, isn’t he?’   
“My name is Eragon. Where do you come from?”  
“A small village outside of monster territory.”  
“That is quite far.”  
“Indeed.”  
An awkward silence permeated the air. ‘Well, what do I do now? I can’t send him back, I’m too old for that. Maybe he can stay here?’  
“Dragon.” Eragon refocused his eyes on the boy.  
“It’s Eragon.”  
“Whatever. Can I stay here?” The dragon blinked. ‘Who would’ve thought that he would ask first?’   
“O...Of course.”  
“I’m trying to get as far away from my village as possible.”  
“Oh?” ‘This seems interesting.’  
“They call me a cursed child, even though it was the wolf demons who killed a lot of people.”  
“Well. How about this. I’ve only got a few years left. If you help cook and clean I’ll give you shelter and knowledge. How about that?” The boy stared at Eragon disbelievingly. Then nodded.  
“Deal.”  
“Now,” said Eragon, “This cave was made by an inventor who was also said to be cursed, but the truth is humans fear what they can’t understand. There are five rooms here, a living room, a kitchen, a library, a garden, and a workshop. In the kitchen there are some dried fish and fox you can eat. Make a soup. Use fennel seed, dried chive, a dash of oregano, and leaves from an olive shade tree. After eating we shall explore the rooms.”   
Koji stalked off to the kitchen, but was soon engulfed in the biggest collection of spices he had ever seen.

Three years passed, and Koji and Eragon learned to coexist with one another. Snide comments aside, the two bonded wonderfully, the dragon taking Koji to different environments and the boy teaching Eragon what life is like for humans. Kooji soon lost his cold shell and became very happy with his dragon friend.Every day would end with them sleeping by the fire, and all was well until Sanome found out where Koji was hiding. Thinking that the boy had been captured he assembled a group to defeat the dragon, and when the dragon was near dying they tried to convince Koji to come with them. To their surprise Koji refused to leave the dragon.

Cheers were heard from outside, and Koji exited the cave only to see his friend bleeding out on the grass and the hateful villagers who had outcasted him rushing to get him to leave this place.  
“Koji! You’re safe!” cried Sanome.  
“Wha…” Koji couldn’t find the words. The hatred and rage right now… was boiling over the top.  
“We defeated the dragon!” Cheers followed this statement.  
“Wha...how..”  
“Hm?”  
“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!” The villagers stopped their celebration. “My friend… You hurt the one who took care of me!” Samone and the others were confused. Why was he standing up for the dragon? “THIS dragon,” he shouted, “saved my life when I was about to be eaten! HE taught me how to love and live and laugh again! Now you’ve come to take that away?! LEAVE!” The villagers stood there awkwardly. “GO!” Everyone ran. “The bastards...Eragon… Eragon!” Koji scuffled towards the bleeding dragon, calling his name frantically.  
“Eragon! Eragon! ERAGON!” The dragon weakly lifted his head, iron dripping down his jaw.  
“Koji…”   
“Don’t move I’m going to get you healed and ready to go! Just bear with me please! Please!”  
“Koji,” Eragon whispered, “You’re crying.” Koji sniffled, tears rushing in like a waterfall. ‘Don’t cry. In truth, I had only a few years left before I died. I’m glad I met you. Live for me, child. Live.” With that the last breath was shuddered from the dragon, and all was quiet. Koji couldn’t believe it. Why did this have to happen to him? Why are all the things he treasures are taken away from him? Defeat, despair, and the weight of death had abruptly shouldered upon him. He touched the silky strands of green hair that had turned white at the dragon’s death.  
“Why…” All that was left was Koji, and Koji alone.


End file.
